When it counts
by WIWJ
Summary: "I'm your partner I was there for you. I'm always going to be there for you. That's all I'm trying to say." He's always been there for her when it counts, and he's not about to stop now. Warning: Sad story..


"**I'm your partner I was there for you. I'm always going to be there for you. That's all I'm trying to say."**

**He's always been there for her when it counts, and he's not about to stop now.**

**When it counts**

**…...**

Anna Bessler keep her eyes focused on the the swirling cars of the amusement park ride until she felt vaguely sick. The seven year old grinned, faintly hearing the call of her Girl Scout Leader before a pair of arms reached out and lifted her off her feet.

"Wait. Where's my Anna.." Lisa Bilay looked around at the group of little girls before a feeling of dread came over her. "Anna? Anna!"

The young woman's eyes darted over the crowd. _She'd been right there! She'd just let go of her hand for a second. _

"Ms. Lisa!" The distant cry makes her sigh in relief for a second until she her eyes land on a black sedan on the other side of the fence and a flash of Anna's light brown hair and pink leggings being tugged into the passenger seat.

…...

Maurice Boscorelli rolled his eyes at the carnival rides. They looked like death traps, not something sensible people let their children climb into. They should be illegal. Nothing like this happened in his precinct, they didn't have 'fun fairs' in Bed Sty. Another reason he liked it there.

The "fun fair" precinct in question had called in neighboring precincts on this one and also Major Case. He knew that was probably why he was there. No matter how long passed between their meetings, it was still well known that Faith Yokas would request him on a call if she could.

He huffed, letting his eyes lull over to where Faith sat with the girl scout leader.

"I always hold her hand." She whispered, looking down at the cup of water in her grip. "She.. wanders.." The woman bit her lip. "So.. I always hold her hand."

"Mrs. Bilay can you remember anything else about the car."

"I couldn't see the licenses plate. It was a black car.. four doors." The woman pressed her mouth close to keep from crying. "I only let her go for a second.."

"It's not your fault." Faith told her gently, as he phone started to ring. She nodded to an officer near her and went to answer it.

Bosco blew out a long breath, leaning against a nearby booth and watching his former partner. `

The hair on the back of his neck slowly started to rise as he did. Despite time, distance and every thing that had occurred between them, he was still amazingly tuned into her. He guessed he probably always would be. To him, everything about her right now, as she closed her phone said danger.

"Detective Yokas?" The younger investigator moved towards her, frowning when she didn't answer. "Ma'am?"

Boscorelli crept forward slowly watching her carefully.

"Detective?" The other woman began again. Bosco put up a hand, moving closer to her himself. She stared off into the crowd.

"Faith?" He said quietly.

"Boz?" She repeated without thinking, her lips forming the answer to her partner's call instantly. He waited for a minute for her brain to catch up. He reached his hand out and cupped her elbow.

"What's wrong?" He whispered.

"I-." She stopped, her lips still parted. Bosco suddenly understood the meaning of your blood running cold. "Can you take me home?"

He blinked at her for a second before nodding. He handed his radio off to his 'partner' and took the drivers seat of her car.

"This about the case?" She shook her head. "Something happen to the kids?" Her head shook faster this time. He looked back out the windshield. They drove in silence for a while, with Bosco trying to decide the best moment to question her further about the phone call.

"Fai-." He began at the first stop light.

"It's back." She cut him off , her squinted at her a little before shaking his head slightly. "I.. It's spread to my lymph-nodes.. maybe my lungs." She nodded. "Probably my lungs." She waited for a second before raising her eyes to him. He blinked back at her, his head still shaking. She nodded at him.

The car behind them honked and Bosco jumped, turning his attention back to the now green light and pulling back into the intersection.

…...

"Tell me you found something out." Faith breathed into the phone, looking around the waiting room.

"Not really. That kid makes Jelly look like Sherlock Holmes."

"She's new Boz."

"She's green as hell Faith." He snorted. "The Dad's got a crazy brother that no one can get a hold of. Guys a real piece of work. Sounds like our best shot. Someone remembers seeing a black four door Chrysler sedan hauling ass away from the fair."

"No plates?"

"No. Nobody seems to think somebody hauling a screaming kid into a dark car is something you should pay attention to."

"Most people probably thought she was throwing a fit over leaving the fair Boz. I'm sure she wasn't the only kid being hauled off against their will."

"I guess." He sighed. "How you doing?"

"Fine. Just sitting in a waiting room full of strangers waiting to see which of my body parts they want to lop off." She muttered.

"Faith." He grunted in disgust.

"Yeah." She sighed in apology, wandering out into the hallway.

"I don't know why you didn't let Em come with you."

"I don't want her to see me like this." Faith countered.

"Like what? Human?" He teased.

"Weak." She whispered, leaning against the wall and swallowing hard. "I'm scared Boz." Faith could hear him breathing on the phone, she closed her eyes, clutching at it. "I don't know if I can do this."

"Yes you can." His warm voice rumbled out of the air in front of her. She jumped, her eyes opening quickly into his.

"What are you-?"

"Detective Yokas?" The receptionist poked her head out of the waiting room. "Oh there you are! Dr. Thomas can see you now."

She ducked back in. Faith looked at Bosco again.

"Ready?" He asked softly. She nodded, following him back towards the office.

…...

"I don't understand why you just don't take him in." Bosco huffed following her down the steps to the suspects apartment.

"I couldn't hold him, Boz." She repeated, slowly like he was a child. "If I drag him down there and he doesn't talk, and I have to let him go? I look incompetent and he looks like he's one upped me."

Bosco pondered that for a moment, before Faith rapped her knuckles against the door of the apartment.

The door swung open and Bosco scowled at the man behind it.

"Yeah?"

"Dominic Nathan? I'm Detective Yokas. I'd like to ask you a few questions?"

"What's this about?"

"I think you know." She said softly.

"I don't think I do."

"It's about Anna Bessler."

"Who?"

"See now right there.." Faith shrugged. "I already know you know who she is."

"Enlighten me."

"She goes to the school you work at."

"Her and five hundred other kids." He shrugged, his arms crossed tightly across his chest.

"How many of them were your buddy's niece?" Faith asked softly.

"How many of them were kidnapped and thrown in a car two days ago?" Bosco snorted. The man looked down at his feet. Faith's lips twitched up.

"Now tell me again you don't know Anna Bessler."

"I didn't do anything to that little girl."

"Where were you on the day Anna Bessler disappeared?"

"I'm in charge of maintenance at the school there were like a thousand people there that day where do you think I was? I was in my office."

"Alone"

"No with Dan Donaldson."

"Also in maintenance?" Faith looked at her notes.

"Yeah.. that a crime too?"

"Have you talked to Frank Bessler since his neice dissapeared?"

"No."

"That's interesting don't you think? That you haven't talked to your buddy."

"I barely know him."

"That's not what Adam Bessler says. He says you and Frank went to high school together."

"Yeah like twenty years ago."

"You guys go camping, catch the game.." She continued.

"Doesn't mean we call each other every day." The man dropped onto his couch. "Why don't Adam and his CEO wife just pay the ransom for the kid? Not like they don't have the money."

"I'm sorry.." Faith looked back over her shoulder. "Officer Boscorelli? Did I say anything about a ransom?"

"The teachers were talking about it at school."

"It sure seems like he knows a lot about a kid he didn't know anything about when we got here, Detective." Bosco raised an eyebrow at Faith, fighting not to smile at the warm familiar feeling of working a perp with her.

"It is interesting." She tried not to grin back at his playful eyes. "Do you have a car Mr. Nathan?"

"No."

"Does Frank Bessler?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"You're buddies." Faith asked. She looked back at her partner. "Boscorelli here, drives a mint condition blue mustang, Mach 1. You know how I know that? He's my friend. I've seen him drive it. He even gives me a ride sometimes."

"I bet he does." The man smirked, eying Faith. Bosco's spine straightened. "I don't think Frank has a car. All I know is I haven't seen him. So if you're not actually going to charge me with anything Cupcake-."

"Hey!" Bosco quipped. "Watch your mouth."

"I think you should leave." He shook his head.

"I think you should help us find your friend." Faith didn't try to hide the edge in her voice.

"I think you should drop dead." The man snapped back.

"You son of a-."

"Boz!" She snapped, putting her hand up quickly before turning back to Nathan. "I'm working on that for you." She whispered pulling one of her cards out of her wallet and tossing it at him. "Call me if you hear from your buddy."

Bosco's chest was still huffing when Faith turned and walked out the door. He had to pick up his pace to keep up.

…...

"Guess who's mom has a black Chrysler Lebaron?" Her partners jubilant voice made her smile as the nurse next to her fiddled with her IV while another attached leads to her back.

"Dominic Nathan?" She whispered almost erotically into the phone.

"It's registered to her, and when they went to ask her about it she said _her Dommy_ borrowed it so him and Frank could go camping." Bosco's matter of fact tone was a welcome distraction from her surgical prep.

"Bosco this is great news."

"How you doing?" He asked suddenly, the playful tone falling away. "You sure you don't want me to come up there?"

"For what I'm gonna be knocked out the whole time?" She sighed, trying to keep things light.

"For Emily." He quipped, unconvincingly.

"My mom's here with her and Jeff." Faith's voice trailed off and she winked at her daughter.

"She's still with him?" Bosco asked warily. She smiled at his protectiveness.

"He's a nice boy." Faith cooed, looking at her daughters boyfriend, who gave her a frightened look.

"What ever." He grumbled. She wondered if he was picturing Emily at eight years old in a tutu like she sometimes did.

"You better call Jenifer and make sure that someone's going back over to Nathan's. He's the key to finding Uncle Frank, Boz I know it."

"I will." He seemed to have embraced his roll as go between for her and her current partner. Jenifer needed all the help she could get. "I'll be there when you wake up."

"See ya then." She told him flatly, knowing full well he would accept that as a promise.

…...

"Gin." Bosco quipped triumphantly, tossing his cards down in front of him and snickering playfully.

"I hate this game. We should play something that people under seventy play." The young woman rolled her eyes.

"Sore loser." Bosco muttered.

"Humm?"

Both card players froze for a second before Bosco turned his eyes towards Faith watching her eyes blink open.

"I'm going to go get someone." Emily said quickly practically running towards the door. Bosco got up slowly, pressing his hands against the rail of the bed and leaning close to her face.

"Boz?"

"Hey." He whispered softly.

"Hey." She whispered back her lips curling into a smile.

"How you doing?"

"I...I have no idea.." She whispered, running her tongue over her lips. Bosco fumbled for the cup of water and pointed the straw towards her mouth, her hand came up slowly before dropping against his arm. "Did Jenifer talk to Nathan?"

"Yeah.. we'll talk about that later okay?" He reached out almost unconsciously and brushed her hair from her face. "You sore?"

"A little." She whispered. "I'm okay.."

"Kay." He whispered watching her way her fingers weakly stroked his arm.

…...

"Thanks." Bosco nodded, watching the woman walk back to her car. He started back to his own as soon as she was safely inside.

He pulled off the street, heading about a mile before he pulled over, wiggling his phone out of his pocket.

"Hey." He quipped when she picked up the phone. "How you doing?"

"I'm fine Boz. I'm more than fine. I'm bored out of my mind." She whined. "I'm counting on you to bring some excitement to my dull exsistance."

"I don't know. Jenifer said you practically asked to be on speaker phone while she interviewed Nathan."

"They gets hauled in the very day I have to take three days off." She huffed in irritation.

"He's not talking." Bosco reminded.

"I bet I could get him to -."

"You're supposed to be taking it easy."

"I'm in bed, Boz. Em's waiting on me hand and foot. If I take it any easier I'll be comatose." She snorted. "Tell me what you got."

"What makes you think I got something?"

"13 yrs of riding with you and almost 20 years of being your friend. Tell me."

"I talked to Dommy Boy's ex Liz. She says he's got a buddy on the island that he stayed with for a few months after they split up. Guy's got priors. I just text Jenifer all the details. She's getting it all worked out right now."

"That's the best medicine I could have possibly had." She whispered honestly. "We're going to find this little girl Bosco."

"Damn right we are. Go to sleep Faith." She smiled at the authority in his voice. "I'm picking you up for chemo at seven."

"Goodie." She teased. "Night Partner."

"Night." Bosco let the phone call end, swallowing hard against the lump in his throat.

...

"They're getting the warrant right now." Bosco reported, walking back into the chemo room still putting his phone in his jacket pocket.

"She's there. I can feel it." Faith shook her head, Bosco watched her uneven breath.

"Stop getting all worked up." He coaxed, following the IV tubing to the yellow liquid in the bag before closing the kidnapping file on her lap and moving it to his own. "You're supposed to be relaxed."

"It's been three weeks." She shook her head at him, he picked up a washcloth running it through a basin of water before laying it across her forehead. "I want this kid at home with her parents."

"We all do. And we'll get her home. Calm down." He picked up the cup of ice next to him, scooping some onto a spoon and holding it up to her mouth. She took it, glaring at him halfheartedly. "Relax."

"I'm tired." She relented, with a sigh.

"Close your eyes then." He told her softly, setting down the cup. She did as she was told, smiling as he wiped her face with the washcloth before dropping it back in the basin, slowly pushing wet locks of hair back from her face. He stilled for a second when Faith's hand reached up and took his own, before lacing his fingers with hers and opening the folder on his own lap with his free hand.

…...

"What the hell are you still doing here?"

Faith jumped at his voice wincing at her aching body as she did.

"Jenifer called you didn't she?" Faith rolled her eyes.

"No I called her after you didn't answer the five messages I left you." He told her forcefully crossing the room and closing the file in front of her. "Why are you being so stupid?"

"Excuse me?"

"This place is like a germ factory. Are you trying to make yourself sick?"

"When did you turn into an old mother hen?" She snorted.

"Oh please. If this were me? You'd be freaking out right now." He told her, putting his arm under her elbow and lifting her from the chair.

"No DNA in the car.." She muttered to herself more than to him. "No idea where the kid is."

"Faith." He stopped her, grabbing her coat from the back of the chair and holding it up to her. "We got proof of life today. Okay?"

"He keeps changing and adding demands. He's getting desperate." She slipped her arms into her coat and he pulled the lapels together and looked into her tired eyes.

"She's alive." He reminded her. "We know the who, and we'll follow him to the where. It's just going to take some time."

"Tell that to Mr and Mrs. Bessler." She whispered. "Tell that to Anna."

"Come on."

…...

"Boz.." Her voice was soft, she licked her lips and looked around the Dr.'s office again.

"Congratulations Detective." Bosco told her cheerily.

"Congra-?" She asked puzzled.

"You worked your ass off for this. You deserve congratulations!"

"What are you talking about?"

"The little girl." His voice was suddenly surprised. "They found her. Frank Bessler just brought her to the 122. He turned himself in. Said he made a big mistake. He lawyer-ed up and they checked him into Bellview for observation."

"He.. is she alright?" Faith slowly sat back down on the exam table.

"Yeah." Bosco paused for a moment. "Are you?"

"No." She whispered. "I need you to meet me at Dr. Thomson's office."

"Faith?" His voice had gone from jubilant to flat in the few minutes she'd been on the phone with him.

"The scans were.." She sniffed and swallowed. "They need to admit me to the hospital for more surgery."

"I'll be right there." She squeezed her eyes tightly shut.

"Okay."

…...

"No, Em stay there. Your mom doesn't want you to ruin your vacation. Just stay there and have fun with Jack." He smiled a little.

"You're not fooling anyone Bosco, I know you know his name is Jeff." She smiled. "Are you sure she's okay?"

"Yeah. They just saw something in her latest scans and they want to take a closer look." He looked at the doors to the operating room and tried to push down the feeling he was lying to her. His phone beeped and he pulled it back to look at the caller ID. "It's Jenifer on the phone. I'll call you when I know something."

"Detective?" Bosco whispered as a greeting.

"Officer Boscorelli how is she?"

"Still in surgery. How's the kid?"

"Good. She was obviously given very good care." Jenifer sighed. "The uncle's lawyer says he's unwilling or unable to tell us what happened. Only that he never meant for it too."

"Is the kid talking?"

"Yeah. She's talking about a woman. Auntie Beth. The kiddy shrink is with her and her parents now."

"Show me on the dolly where the bad man touched you?" Bosco grimaced.

"Something like that." Jenifer paused. "Tell Yokas we're thinking about her okay?"

"I will." Bosco closed his phone and looked towards the doors until the doctor appeared. "How is she?"

"She's in recovery. The nurses will come and get you once she's settled. I just wanted to talk to you about what we've found."

What ever it was, Maurice Boscorelli knew it wasn't good.

…...

"I still don't think I get this." Bosco muttered from his chair, rubbing his hands over his face. "They make it sound like you're going to be radio active."

"Who knows. Maybe after this I'll glow?" Faith muttered softly, watching Bosco's head roll towards her. He raised his eyebrows.

"That'd be something." He agreed.

"You're getting me the transcripts from the kids sessions right?"

"Jenifer's having someone bring them over." He rolled his eyes, standing up and adjusting the scarf around her head. "You're probably going to be too worn out to look at them."

"Then you can read them to me." She grinned, the tubing from her nasal oxygen lifting with her cheeks.

"I remember my old job." He sighed. "Before I became Detective Yokas' personal assistant."

"You love me." She exhaled the words and he smiled.

"Somebody has too." He grunted, his eyes flashing up when the nurse walked into the room.

"Ready to go!" She sang, before looking at Bosco. "We'll bring her back here when she's finished."

He nodded trying not too look lost as they wheeled her bed down the hallway. Faith made a face a him and he forced a smile.

It faded by the time she was out of site.

…...

"Then she says Auntie Beth told her that she'd go home soon and that she would be going on a fun trip."

"He kidnapped his niece for someone else's Vacation money?" Faith asked softly, her head lulling to the side until she faced him. He adjusted the nasal prongs, untwisting the tubing.

"Ever heard of time share?" He muttered.

"So then he gets scared.." Faith nods. "And takes her back?"

Bosco snorted before looking back at the file.

"What?" Faith asked him softly.

"Nothin'." He shook his head, but didn't look up. Faith reached her hand out and swatted at his chin until it lifted.

"You have something." She repeated.

"She's familiar." He complained. "Auntie Beth."

"What do you mean?"

"The way the kid says she talks.." He looked back at the file.

"Familiar?"

"I'm missing something." He huffed. "We talk to the girl's leader, the mom, the grandmother. Then Nathan's mom, and his exgirl-." He stopped looking up at his partner. "The ex.."

"Liz." Faith's lips parted into a smile.

"Auntie Elizabeth.." Bosco mumbled before scrambling for his phone.

…...

"Em!" Bosco burst through the door of Faith's apartment, his uniform a blur of blue.

"Bosco!" Emily rushed into the hallway.

"What happened?"

"I don't know we were talking and joking and she was fine." He moved past her towards the bedroom.

"She said she was tired. I went back to check on her and she was pale and breathing weird."

"Jesus.. Faith?" She made a vague noise in response and Bosco's heart clenched.

"So I called you!" Emily finished, wiping the tears from her face. "But she just kept getting worse."

"Did you call an ambulance?" He asked, pressing his fingers against his partners throat."Faith?"

"She told me not too.." Emily looked at her mother.

"Christ Em, this is serious you know?" He looked around the room, trying to decide what to do.

"I'll call now." She lunged for the phone but Bosco was already moving the portable oxygen to his shoulder before plugging her tubing into it and pulling his partner towards his chest.

"No, I can get her their faster." He lifted her from the bed and swung to face the hall. "Just open the door."

…...

"The antibiotics are working. We're looking at infection, now we just need to figure out what type. We'll know more when the lab results are back." Bosco looked at the doctor for a second before looking back at his partner. She squeezed his hand. "We have to stop and take a look a where we are and start making decisions about how we want to proceed from here."

"Wait what does that mean?" Bosco whispered The doctor's face slipped slightly.

"It means that we're running out of options to fight this cancer." He told them bluntly. Bosco nodded shakily before dropping into the chair behind her. "We'll wait and see what the test results tell us."

Bosco nodded again. Faith licked her lips and looked at the wall. The doctor left them in silence.

"You should call Jenifer." Faith told him softly.

"And tell her what?" He struggled to talk over the lump in his throat.

"I want to know if the kid Id'd the girlfriend." She turned her eyes to him with her most innocent expression. "Don't you?"

"Faith. I don't give a damn abo-."

"It's my last thing, Boz." She interrupted him calmly. "My last thing as a cop." She smiled shakily. "Help me do this."

He nodded slowly, letting go of her hand and walking slowly into the hall before picking up the phone and calling Jenifer, then Ty Davis. She was asleep when he made his way back.

He sat on the other side of the room and cried, trying his best not to wake her.

…...

"I'm afraid it is as bad as we thought it was." Dr. Thomas looked between the two of them. Since he'd begun speaking they'd both seemed to fall into a simultaneous coma. He looked over at Emily, and her tear streaked cheeks. "The Cancer is much more aggressive then we expected.

"I don't understand." Faith whispered softly, Bosco's eyes shot to hers. "First you tell me not to worry. Just have another scan. To verify that it's nothing. Then you tell me to have surgery to get rid of it. So I let you hack off my breasts!"

"Faith." Bosco winced and Emily scurried out of the room.

"Then you tell me chemo. Chemo will make sure it doesn't come back. Then you tell me I need another surgery and that you need to take out a piece of my lung. Then more chemo and then you want to zap me with radiation and I do all that! I did all that because you said it would make me better. That it would at least give me more time, but now your standing here telling me it didn't. That it made it worse? Is that what you're-!" She stopped gasping for breath. Thomas leaned forward and adjusted the oxygen settings. "Get the hell away from me!"

"Faith." Bosco's voice was sharp and he quickly rose to the side of her bed, sitting down as he tried to push her back against the pillows. She clung to him instead, choppy thick sobs shacking against his chest. He froze, his body stiffening for a moment before his hand slipped up and cupped the short locks that were just getting long enough to pass as hair. He wrapped his arms carefully around her frail body and slipped beside her on the bed.

"Shh.. It's okay." He whispered, knowing it was a lie.

"Take me home." She pleaded against the tear soaked shoulder of his t-shirt.

…...

"Hey Bosco." Carlos Nieto smiled sadly at his former coworker as he climbed off of his ambulance and walked towards the rear entrance of the hospital.

"Thanks for doing this." Boscorelli muttered.

"No problem." He tossed his pack onto his arm and met the nurse at the door. Bosco paid half attention to the report between the two. He had learned a lot about Faith's fragile health by listening to nurses at the change of shifts. Today though he couldn't focus on anything but the overwhelming feelings of defeat. He looked over at Faith as Carlos changed from the hospitals oxygen to his own. Smiling at her warmly as he did, as if he'd just bumped into her on a run. Not like he was taking her home to die.

"Boz?" She called softly, snapping him out of where he'd been. "You ready?"

He nodded, pushing his face into a pleasant smile.

…...

"Looks like a party in here." Faith called joyfully as Carlos pushed her wheel chair into her apartment. Bosco hugged Charlie quickly, clapping his hand against the boys back. With Emily he lingered, squeezing her tightly against him before letting go and wiping his eyes. He shook hands with Davis and nodded at Sullivan before excusing himself to the bathroom and throwing up the coffee cake his mother had brought to the hospital that morning for breakfast. He looked at himself in the mirror for a long time, his eyes falling on the faint star-burst shaped scar on his right cheek, remembering another moment years ago when he'd stupidly thought he'd never be the same.

That seemed so ridiculous to him now. He washed his face, squirting some of Faith's toothpaste into his mouth and spitting it back out before leaving the bathroom.

He nearly bumped into Faith's brother.

"Stanley." He said softly. The man nodded before handing him an envelope, Bosco opened it carefully and stared at the check.

"Get her out of here Boscorelli. Take her and the kids someplace warm." He started to protest, but the other man shook his head. "She deserves it."

Bosco looked back at the envelope and nodded, just before Carlos pushed Faith into the hallway.

"There you are." She smiled. "Emily's going to help me get settled and then Davis is going to tell us what he's got on Nathan."

…...

She had insisted on waiting until they arrested Dominic Nathan, and his ex-girlfriend/accomplice, but the second they did Bosco had Carlos call in a favor. The private Ambulance to Cape Cod would have cost them half their gifted budget if he hadn't. He rode with Faith, with Emily's boyfriend following with her and Charlie.

Bosco watched Faith watch her young adult children learn to surf from the end of her lounge chair. He sat beside her carefully moving the portable oxygen from one side to the other before leaning back with a sigh.

Faith smiled at him before he pulled her down against his chest, her head resting against the curve of his shoulder. She smiled.

"What ya thinking about?" He whispered, following her gaze to where Charlie seemed to be getting the hang of it.

"You." She decided, tilting her head until it hit his chin.

"What about me?" He muttered defensively.

"Even on my worst days you've been right there with me." She told him.

"Maybe that's a sign.." He snickered, his eyebrows raising towards the sun filled sky. He smiled when she laughed.

"Maybe." She teased quietly. "But you seem to be in most of my best days too." He exhaled loudly and Faith pressed her cheek against his chest. "Thanks for that."

Bosco gingerly licked his lips before turning his face and pressing them to her temple, watching her cheeks twitch up in little bursts before turning back to face the ocean, locking her hands tight around his arms.

…...

"On the charge of kidnapping in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Dominic Nathan guilty."

Bosco smiled smugly, his eyes trained on Nathan.

"On the second charge of extortion we find the defendant guilty. On the third charge of hindering a police investigation we find the defendant guilty."

Detective Jenifer Olms caught Bosco's eye and he smiled at her. She mouthed the word thank you back at him and he nodded.

He took a deep breath and a long look at Nathan before standing up and making his way out of the courtroom.

He drove straight to Faith's apartment, unlocking the door and unbuttoning the buttons of his uniform shirt. He opened the door to the bedroom and smiled at the night nurse who picked up her book and headed into the guest room.

Bosco kicked off his shoes and pulled off his belt before laying beside her on the bed. He watched the shallow rise and fall of her chest, swallowing hard against the tightness in his own.

"Faith?" He whispered, laying his head on the pillow next to her own. Her eyelids flickered and she slowly regained consciousness, turning towards him lazily.

"Guilty on all three charges." He told her with a smile, she smiled back.

…...

It was September when she died.

Her son sat on the floor in the hall with his back against the bedroom door. Emily had walked out just before bursting into tears and closing herself in the bathroom.

The hospice nurse fiddled with what ever she thought would make her more comfortable, and Maurice Boscorelli held his partner and whispered things to her that he should have told her long ago.

…...

Half of the old 55 seemed to be at the funeral. Bosco seemed to be somewhere else. Sully had long given up trying to talk to him. So instead he sat beside him on the pew and kept watch. Later Bosco would acknowledge exactly how much that meant to him.

The parents of Anna Bessler had come to pay their respects to the detective that had worked tirelessly to bring their daughter home. Bosco smiled when Jenifer introduced him and managed not to stiffen up too much when Mrs. Bessler hugged him. Sully coughed and thanked them for coming, grateful that the father seemed to take his que and lug his wife off Bosco and out of the church.

He opted not to join the color guard, sitting between Emily and Charlie instead. In what would have been Fred's place. Had Fred not been an asshole. He sat behind them, two rows back. Emily clasped his hand in hers laying them both over the folded flag. Someone took a picture for the paper.

At the end of the day he hugged Charlie and gave Em a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm going to miss seeing you every day." She told him, her hands still gripping at his arms.

"Call me sometime kid." He muttered, sniffing away the tears that were already sneaking from his eyes. She let go of him with a nod and he started back up the hill.

"Uncle B?" Neither of them had called him that in years, but when he turned around he saw them as little children again, waiting for their uncle to come and play. He blinks that away. "Thanks, for being there."

He gave a quick nod before walking away.

...

"Dominic Nathan, for the charge of kidnapping in the first degree the court sentences you to the maximum sentence of 25 years. For the charge of extortion the court sentences you to the maximum sentence of 20 years..."

Maurice Boscoreli smiled, moving his thumbs over the gold badge in his hands. He remembered the day they handed them their originals. He remembered the way Faith starred at it, just like he was now. He continued to long after the courtroom had cleared.

"Officer Boscorelli?" Bosco looked up at the two men standing before him, Faith's superiors. He'd met them a few times before and they'd been at the funeral. "Major Crimes has been very impressed with your help on this case."

"It wasn't me." He shook his head, his hand curving around Faith's badge.

"We know that's not entirely the truth." One of the men said. "Detective Olms had nothing but good things to say. We were hoping you'd consider joining us."

"Joining you?" His face went blank.

"At major case."

"I'm not-." Bosco shook his head in protest.

"The Captain is willing to consider you for a field promotion to Detective. For your work on this case and for your years of service to the NYPD. If it's something you'd consider."

…...

"And with that we are denying your parole request at this time." The court officer concluded as the parole board collected their items.

The convict lowered his face before standing up and turning to see Detective Maurice Boscorelli grinning at him from the other side of the room.

"It's too bad really." He taunted. "Felony kidnapping is tricky."

Dominic Nathan rolled his eyes at the familiar man.

"I think it's the 'interfering in a police investigation' part that really gets them. Or maybe just the letters I write." Bosco smirked.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" The inmate asked shaking his head.

Bosco smiled at him.

"I'm Faith Yokas' partner." He shrugged, turning on his heels. "See ya next year, Cupcake."


End file.
